What I've Learned: Johnny Depp and Tim Burton

They are known as two of the strangest, quietest geniuses ever to work in movies. Turns out they're not that strange. Or quiet.

Tim Burton: There are partnerships where one person is good at one thing and the other is good at another. That's true in our case. But we're very connected in terms of taste.

Johnny Depp: Even when we first met, we connected on all these superabsurd levels.

TB: A fascination for weird seventies objets d'art.

JD: I remember, growing up, we had this concrete cobra spray-painted gold.

TB: We're from different parts of the country. But there is a kind of suburban white-trashy connective strand there. Isn't there?

JD: Yep.

TB: The stories that scared us as children.

JD: Mr. Green Jeans.

TB: Seeing Humphrey Bogart playing a monster. He only did one horror movie and —

JD: We both knew it.

TB: The Return of Dr. X. When something like that comes up, you realize, Yeah, perfect. Things that don't normally come up in most people's conversations are things that come up a lot in ours.

JD: We speak in a sort of shorthand.

TB: It's not literal. We'll cross-reference things that wouldn't really make sense to the normal person.

JD: One time, Tim and I were talking before we were getting ready to shoot. Afterward, one of the grips comes over to me with this really perplexed look on his face. He says, "I was just watching you and Tim talk about the scene for the last fifteen minutes." "Yeah?" And he says, "I didn't understand a fucking word either one of you said."

TB: That about sums it up.

JD: I don't think we've ever had an argument.

TB: I don't think so. There have been differences of opinion and a different take on certain things.

JD: But even in that kind of situation, Tim just says, "Okay, do it like you want and then do it the other way."

TB: Usually, we agree. Early on Sweeney Todd, Johnny said, "There is one thing I cannot do. I can't take Anthony to the hotel."

JD: I had written a big question mark on that page of the script.

TB: When I opened my script to the same page, I saw that I'd already crossed it out.

JD: Tim's had to fight to get me in his movies so many times.

TB: We always have to fight. We have to fight to get them done, we have to fight — weirdly, Sweeney Todd wasn't so hard, which it should've been. They should have run screaming for the hills with this one. An R-rated bloody musical starring someone they don't even know if he can sing. I mean, Jesus. There's a certain amount of trust that goes into backing that. It's exciting when people do that, you know? Just trusting you with something. I find that to be quite energizing and confidence building. Makes you feel good.

JD: Makes you want to do a good job for them, too.

TB: Absolutely. I've always used a sporting analogy to describe the flip side of that. You're a runner and you're just about to run the big race, and they come in and beat the fucking shit out of you and then say, "Okay, go win the race." You get the shit beat out of you right before you're supposed to go perform your best. And it happens most of the time. We have our bets on you, never mind we just broke your fucking legs. But it wouldn't be making a movie if it were easy. It should be a struggle. Otherwise, you're coasting.

JD: There's always that moment on every movie where you just go, "Okay, this is that moment. I'm about to potentially fall flat on my face, and I might as well just dive in and see what happens." That's how it was when I started singing the songs for the first time. I just felt like an idiot. It was one of the most exposing, bizarre things I've ever done. I mean, at forty-three years old, it's the first time I'd sung a song all the way through.

TB: I did some auditioning with other people, and afterward I was completely devastated and exhausted. I felt like I was casting a porno movie. I mean, having people come in to audition and sing was like having them come in and take their clothes off. It felt that exposing. It shocked me.

JD: It's true. I've married Tim's woman twice now. In Corpse Bride, Helena was the corpse. And then in Sweeney Todd.

TB: What are you, some kind of, what do they call it? Do you live in Utah? Are you one of those guys?

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